Nifty ends below crucial 8,000-level, down 82 pts

The Nifty 50-share index extended losses for the seventh straight session today, falling 82 points to breach the 8,000-mark as all sectoral indices ended in the red.
Nifty Metal, PSU Bank, Infra, Energy, Pharma and Finance Service indices fell the most on the back of bearish global cues.
Overseas, European stocks were trading lower as Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA's eleventh-hour bid to raise capital looked set to fail, dragging bank shares lower.
Asian stocks suffered modest losses after an overnight lacklustre performance on Wall Street, with investors awaiting US economic data later in the day for potential catalysts even as markets started winding down ahead of the holidays.

Back home, the Nifty opened lower at 8,043.85 and moved in a range of 8,046.45 and 7,964.95 before ending at 7,979.10, showing a fall of 82.20 points or 1.02 per cent.
It saw an intra-day movement of about 81.50 points.

On the sectoral front, Metal fell 2.85 per cent, followed by PSU Bank (1.90 per cent), Infra (1.88 per cent), Energy (1.33 per cent), Pharma (1.31 percent), Finance Service (1.19 per cent), Bank (1.07 per cent), Pvt Bank (0.96 per cent), IT (0.64 per cent) and Realty (0.51 per cent).
Major index laggards were Hindalco (4.47 per cent), Adani Ports (3.88 per cent), ONGC (3.28 per cent), Bharti Airtel (3.13 per cent) and Tata Steel (3.04 pct).

The gainers included ITC (0.55 per cent), Asian Paints (0.55 per cent), Bharti Infratel (0.37 per cent), Tata Motors (0.23 per cent) and Zee (0.02 per cent).
A total of 1,329 scrips declined 291 advanced while 56 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 99.
Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 13,533.63 crore from Rs 14,048.65 crore as on Wednesday.
A total of 6,763.35 lakh shares changed hands in 6,385,308 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 10,218,359.34 crore.